


Finding the Nurse's Aide

by Doctoring



Series: Nurse's Aide [1]
Category: Ed Edd n Eddy
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Nat pretty much runs everything, Pining, Slow Build, get your shit together Kevin Barr, nurse's aide, posted in real time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-07-27 21:08:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16227353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doctoring/pseuds/Doctoring
Summary: Kevin's a bit in denial about his feelings for the nurse's aide, but he gets over that quickly as he struggles to find a moment of Edd's time without making a fool of himself.





	1. Sunday

**Sunday Afternoon**

“Oh my god, you’re totally into him!”

“Am not!”

“You so are! You want little Double Delicious all to yourself! You want to romance him and-”

“Shut it or I’ll pound ya!”

“But you just said you were _intrigued_ by-”

“No, what I said was that he was… _interesting_ … that’s all… Quit trying to read into shit.”

“So, have you tried to make a move yet?

“Nat. What the fuck!? I’m not even really into him…”

Nat gave him a long, knowing stare before Kevin sighed and caved in.

“I can’t. I hardly know him… and I can’t really get to know him.”

“Dude. Don’t lie to me. He’s literally across the street right now. I saw him when I pulled up.”

“Yeah, and did you see who else he was with?”

“Oh, so you were looking, too?” Nat teased, waggling his eyebrows and elbowing Kevin.

“Cut it out man!” Kevin scooted further down the couch and threw a decorative pillow at him. “He’s always with those other two dorks. I wouldn’t mind getting to know him, but I refuse to do anything involving _them_.”

“But Ed’s on the team, and you seem fine with him.”

“Yeah. He’s fine then, but when he’s with Eddy… it’s different… and Eddy’s a flat out ‘no,’ no matter the situation.”

“Okay… You just have to find some other way to get to know Double D. Wait… don’t you have classes with him?”

“Yeah, two, but we sit on opposite sides and they’re the type of classes where you don’t really get a chance to get to know anyone.”

“Okay… and I’m guessing you have separate lunches?”

“No. It’s at the same time, but he always dips out so quickly and I don’t know where he goes. I never see him in the cafeteria, but he’s probably with dork and dorkier anyways.”

“Ah. Well what about study hall?”

“Different time than mine… but it doesn’t matter since he’s doing the nurses assistant thing or whatever.”

“For someone who claims he’s not that into him, you sure do know a lot about his schedule.”

Kevin just gives him the side-eye.

“I’m just saying. It sounds like you already put some thought into getting to know this ‘he’s only interesting’ cutie,” Nat sassed with a smirk and exaggerated air quotes.

“Shut the hell up, man.”

“I would, but then you wouldn’t be able to hear my brilliant solution to your dilemma.”

“I’m fine with that,” Kevin said, unpausing the video game they were playing. “It was probably a stupid solution anyways.”

They continued to play for about five more minutes until Kevin suddenly paused the game again. “Okay… so what is this solution of yours?”

“You said Double D was the nurse's aide this semester, right?”

“Yeah.”

“There you go!”

“That was an already known fact. Not a solution.”

“It is a solution if you take a little pit stop by the nurse’s office when he’s working.”

“But I don’t know when that is… so yeah… stupid solution,” Kevin said, unpausing the game once more. But this time he immediate pauses it again and sits upright. He stays there, motionless, deep in thought, for a little while before sitting the controller down and turning to face Nat. “Okay. So, I know he’s not playing nurse when we have class together.”

“Obviously.”

“And it can’t be first period because I see him go into the class across the hall… Shut it, Nat!”

“I didn’t even say anything!”

“Your face did!”

Even after being called out, Nat couldn’t stop grinning over Kevin really knowing a lot about Edd’s schedule, regardless of how much he was trying to downplay his feelings earlier. “Whatever… so you know three periods where he’s _not_ being the nurse’s aide…”

“Yup, so I just gotta figure out the rest by trial and error.”

“Are you really going to do that?” Nat asked before biting his bottom lip and clutching the pillow that was previously thrown at him. He looked eagerly at a disturbed Kevin.

“Dude. Chill… And maybe… I don’t know, yet.”

Nat just nodded and picked up his controller, resuming the game.

After a few minutes, Nat spoke up, “You’re totally going to try to figure out when he’s in the nurse’s office, aren’t you.”

“Yup.”

“Sweet. Just do me one favor, will you?”

“What’s that?”

“Let me be the first to know when the wedding is.”

Kevin didn’t respond, but within a few seconds the “ _Friendly Fire!!_ ” message appeared on the screen. Nat just shrugged at his injured character. “Fair.”


	2. Monday

**Monday, Second Period**

About halfway through a class of nothing but busy work, Nat leaned over and wrote on Kevin’s notebook. “ _You gonna do it_?”

Kevin just shook his head. Nat writes “ _WHY!?_ ” under his previous question.

Kevin quickly scribbles out “ _too much work_ ” and makes sure Nat sees it. He then pulls his notebook closer to himself and starts on his classwork again.

Nat snatches the notebook from Kevin’s desk, slapping it on his own, and starts writing. Kevin tried to get his notebook back only to be swatted at by Nat’s free hand. This mini-commotion was just loud enough to cause the teacher to look up at them with a frown. Kevin quickly tried to pretend to be working even without his notebook on the desk.

When the teacher turned back to his novel, Kevin tried once more to retrieve the notebook, but this time Nat kicked him while still writing. After a couple of minutes, Nat tosses the notebook back to Kevin, who fumbled it, allowing it to drop on the floor. After Kevin retrieved the notebook, he found the page that Nat wrote on.

 _Nurse’s Aide?_  
1 – NOT  
2 – MAYBE  
3 –  
4 – MAYBE  
5 – NOT  
6 – MAYBE  
7 –

 _Figured you had 5th period together cause of lunch_  
_But idk about 3rd or 7th_  
 _Just go down the list_  
 _Not hard!!_

Kevin spent a few moments scribbling out the heart with “ _K+E_ ” written inside of it that Nat drew next to the list. Afterwards, he wrote “not” next to the 3rd line, since that’s when they had a shared class, and “maybe” on the last line.

 _Four out of seven,_ Kevin thought, _Just a little over half. I guess that’s doable._

Kevin slammed his notebook shut before raising his hand. The teacher immediately looked towards him and said, “Yes, Kevin?”

“I don’t feel well. Can I go to the nurse?”

“No, because you seem well enough to pass notes and cause a ruckus.”

Kevin sank into his seat sheepishly and waited for the teacher to go back to reading his book. Kevin then looked over at Nat with a death-glare, but Nat didn’t see it. He had his head buried in his arms on his desk, but Kevin could tell by the way Nat was shaking that he was being laughed at.

**Monday, Fourth Period**

“Any progress?”

“Nope.”

“Did you even try?”

“You saw me ‘try’ in second period, and Edd’s in my class for third period. Not much else to try.”

“Dude. Sorry about that,” Nat snickered.

“Could you say that without laughing?”

“NOPE!” He grinned widely. “Hey, maybe you should-”

“GOLDBERG! QUIT YAPPING AND GET UP HERE!” The coach yelled out. They were practicing baseball today in gym class.

After both Nat and Kevin had their chance at batting, they went to the end of the line. “So, as I was saying, maybe you should go now. You can probably-”

“Not gonna do it.”

“Giving up already?”

“Eh. It’s baseball day. I wanna stay.”

“Double Delightful is going to be so heartbroken when he hears that you picked baseball over him.”

Kevin just glares at him, wondering if it’s normal to want to hit your best friend this many times a day.

**Monday, Football Practice**

“What’s the status.”

“Stagnant.”

“That word sounds even more disgusting that usual. So, did you not see him today.”

“Nope. Not outside of those two classes at least.”

“Dude, you need to work on finding out when he’s acting as nurse’s aide. You can’t just stare dreamily at him from across the room all the time.”

“Could you shut up!?” Kevin grits out, subtly gesturing to the other people on the team.

Nat looked at the other people on the team who are in stretching in pairs, just like him and Kevin, before his eyes landed on someone in particular, causing him to freak out and grab Kevin’s arm.

“DUDE! DUDE! DUDE! DUDE! DUDE!”

“The fuck!?”

“We’re so stupid! Why don’t we just ask Ed! He should know when-”

“NO! Don’t even suggest it!”

“But why?” Nat whined.

“Cause he’s probably gonna tell Edd and somehow misconstrue it… and be loud about it… And with you knowing about it, I’m already concerned about it being too loud as is.”

“I would be offended but you’re not wrong… so are you just going to try again tomorrow?”

Kevin shook his head and started to say “no” as the coach blew the whistle to begin drills. However, this made Kevin look up in the direction of the coach, allowing him to spot Edd walking home from school. The autumn breeze picked up, prompting Edd to pull his sweater closer around him. This image of Edd cozied in on himself as red and orange leaves danced around him caused Kevin to freeze as he felt something tugging inside him. _Shit. I wish I wasn’t at practice, so I could go over there and give him my jacket or something… the fuck am I thinking… Is Nat right? Do I have a crush on him?_

Kevin tried to push those thoughts to the back of his mind as he ran through the drills. However, after being distracted a few more times, he had to admit to himself that he maybe, possibly, sorta-kinda had a tiny, microscopic crush on Edd. _Heh. He might like that “microscopic” descriptor… shit… maybe it’s not so microscopic of a crush after all…_

_One more day. I’ll try just once more._


	3. Tuesday

**Tuesday, First Period**

Kevin realized that he knew Edd was in the class across the hall and he could spot him leaving class if he hurried. _I just got to see if he’s going in the direction of the nurse’s office._

Kevin’s game-planning was interrupted by the teacher telling the students to pull out their supplementary texts. _Shit. We haven’t used that book in so long, I left it in my locker… fuck, the lockers… Edd will probably go to his locker first before the nurse’s office… I can’t really trail him for that long without being late for class…_

Kevin spent the rest of the class sharing a book with the person next to him and moping about his failed start.

**Tuesday, Second Period**

Kevin knew he said he was going to try one more day, but he didn’t want to press his luck in this class after what happened yesterday. No matter how many times Nat kept urging him to, getting them in trouble once again for disrupting class.

**Tuesday, Third Period**

Kevin spends a good portion of class sneaking glances at Edd, trying to see if he can spot some sign of him just returning from being nurse’s aide. It’s not until the end of class that Kevin realized that it was a foolish thing to do. _It’s not like he’ll still have the uniform on or whatever. He’s not careless like that._

**Tuesday, Fourth Period**

Nat and Kevin had health today instead of gym, meaning that it was their typical napping-during-an-outdated-video time. Kevin had planned on waking up early and going to the nurse’s office then, but he was woken up suddenly by a cramp in his right calf. He spent the rest of the class clutching his tightened muscle and grimacing, trying to find a way to stretch it out at his desk. Towards the end of the class period, he was no longer in the mood to try to walk with this muscle still sore and slightly constricted, even for Edd.

**Tuesday, Fifth Period**

After class, the students went to the last lunch period of the day. As soon as their lunch bell rang, Kevin rushed forward to see where Edd ran off to. However, Edd was no longer in sight by the time Kevin managed to muscle his way into the hall. Kevin decided to rush for the cafeteria instead of stopping by his locker first, to see if Edd was one of the first ones there, but he didn’t see him there either.

 _Does the dork just sprint to get lunch, or does he just not eat? It’s like he ceases to exist as soon as the lunch bell rings._ Kevin kept an eye out for him, to see if Edd just took his time to go to the cafeteria after going to his locker, but Edd never showed up.

**Tuesday, Sixth Period**

“Anything?”

“Nope. I did try to follow him during lunch, but he sits at the front by the door, so he’s usually the first one out. I tried rushing after him but it’s like he vanished. He was nowhere in the cafeteria.”

“Weird.”

Later in class, Kevin tried to use a bathroom pass to sneak towards the hall where the nurse’s office was located, but there was a hall monitor preventing him from going that far. Kevin wanted to see Edd, but he wanted to NOT get detention even more.

**Tuesday, Seventh Period**

Kevin tried to fake being sick, but apparently his acting skills need a lot of work, according to his teacher.

**Tuesday, at Football Practice**

“Did you find out when it is?”

“Nope.”

“Did you try?”

“Like a fool.”

“Well… Just so you know… after history I tried to go to nurse’s office to skip my last class…”

“And!?”

“I don’t think he was there. They wouldn’t let me stay since I didn’t have a fever and there were already other students in there who were actually sick. But I was there after class had started, and he still hadn’t shown up.”

“Yeah. He’s not one to be late. So probably not last period.”

“ONE DOWN! THREE MORE TO GO!” Nat shouted before the coach yelled at him to clam up and focus. Nat’s optimism perked Kevin up, making him consider trying again tomorrow.


	4. Wednesday

**Wednesday, First Period**

Kevin flips to the page Nat wrote on, on Monday, and updates it.

_Nurse’s Aide?_  
1 – NOT  
2 – MAYBE  
3 – not  
4 – MAYBE  
5 – NOT  
6 – MAYBE  
7 – ~~maybe~~ not

Kevin smiled at the list. _It’s almost like a pattern. Edd would like that. Shit. Now everything is reminding me of him. Why am I being so weird?_

**Wednesday, Third Period**

Kevin didn’t know why he was being so weird (read: becoming obsessed over catching Edd during his nurse’s aide hour).

_Shit. This maybe a crush is definitely a crush… isn’t it…_ He was now determined to find out, both his feelings and Edd’s schedule, and that meant talking to Edd.

Kevin rushed to class and waited for Edd to show up.

“Hey, dor-Double D.”

Edd turned in his seat, startled. He glanced up at Kevin with a confused look. “Y-yes, Kevin?”

“I heard you were doing the nurse assistant thing this semester.”

Edd perked up. “I am! Why do you bring that up?”

“I um… I was wondering…”

“Were you perhaps wondering how to become one yourself?”

_HELL NO!_ “Uh, yeah?” _The fuck did I just say?_

Edd clasped his hands in excitement and grinned. “Splendid!” Kevin melted a little at the gap-tooth smile and tried to ignore the fact that he’s slowly digging himself into a deeper pit of feels. “It’s already mid-semester, but once applications for spring semester open, I can bring you one!”

“Sure thing. But I also-”

“Take a seat! Class is beginning!” The teacher trilled. Kevin tried to turn back and ask Edd really quickly when his nurse’s aide hour was, but Edd was already staring eagerly at the teacher, who was glaring at a still-standing Kevin.

Kevin took a seat, more determined than ever to figure out Edd’s schedule.

**Wednesday, Fourth Period**

In the middle of playing flag football in gym class, Kevin tried to figure out how to sneak away and go to the nurse’s office. His thoughts were interrupted when he was tackled from behind by Nat.

“The hell, Nat? I’M ON YOUR TEAM!” Kevin got up and immediately started picking at his left hand. He managed to slide it across the ground the wrong way during the fall, scratching it up pretty badly.

“Coach! Kevin’s bleeding! Can we go to the nurse?”

“He can go, but you. Come. Here.” The coach pointed at the spot in front of him and stared Nat down.

“Hear that, you’re going to the nurse now. Nurse Edd,” Nat said, making a leering face.

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to injure me.”

“Eh, sacrifices… Anyways, _you’re welcome._ ” Nat whispered out before smacking Kevin on the ass and sprinting towards the coach.

Kevin was going to get Nat back for touching his butt. They’ve talked about this before. Several times before. But for now, he needed to go see Edd. Hopefully.

As he was leaving the gym, he couldn’t help the bit of schadenfreude he felt as he heard the coach say to Nat, “Now explain to me why you can tackle like that during flag football, but not during practice.”

Kevin was already grinning on his way to the nurse’s office, but when he stepped into the doorway, he started beaming. Edd was there.

Edd looked up from his text book and smiled softly. “Kevin! What a pleasant surprise! Unless you’re here for an actual nurse’s visit…”

Kevin raised his left hand and smirked, “It’s the latter.”

Edd’s smile faltered at the sight of Kevin’s hand. He immediately ushers Kevin into the nurse’s office and sits him down in a chair. “What happened!?”

“Eh, got tackled in flag football. It’s just a minor scrape.”

“This looks like more than a minor scrape. The entire palm and side of your hand is scratched up. And there’s dirt on it!” Edd goes to the counter to obtain the first aid supplies. While he’s collecting the materials, he looks over his shoulder and addresses Kevin again. “Pardon me, but did you say you were tackled in _flag_ football?”

“Yup. Totally wiped out.”

“But isn’t the point of flag football to minimize the physical contact aspect of the original sport?” Edd asks as he places the first aid supplies on a metal table next to Kevin.

“Yup. Basically.”

Edd pulls up a rolling chair in front of Kevin and hesitantly takes a seat. He looks up at Kevin confused. “I’m sorry but I still don’t follow.”

“Nat doesn’t really follow the rules.”

“Nat? …OH! Nathan! Yes… that does make sense now… this might sting a little,” Edd says, opening up an alcohol pad.

“So, you know Nat?” Kevin asked with a hiss as Edd started to clean his wound. _The fuck am I talking about him for?_

“Sorry… but it’s necessary to clean the wound…”

“I understand, dork. Do what you must.”

Edd continues to clean Kevin’s hand. Kevin felt ridiculous for blushing since it’s not exactly hand-holding. Edd was wearing latex gloves. He was holding Kevin’s hand up with his left hand, while using his right hand to gently wipe away the dirt and blood with alcohol pads. Just cleaning a wound, not flirting.

As he finished cleaning Kevin’s palm, Edd spoke up again. “As for Nathan, I do know him. We had quite a few classes together last year. And we got coffee together once.”

“Oh! I didn’t know that you guys were that close.”

“We’re really not… he’s just…”

“Pushy?”

“I don’t want to say it like that, but basically.”

“Nah, I get what you mean. He’s always trying to get you to go out and do stuff without thinking about the time and place.”

“Exactly! In fact, on Sunday he…”

“…Sunday?” _He was at my place on Sunday._ “What did he do?”

Edd stopped cleaning the wound for a moment and sighed. “He pulled up to your house while I was outside waiting on Ed, and he walked over and invited me to hang out at your place.” Edd turned Kevin’s hand in his and started to clean the side of it. “I found that a little bit on the inconsiderate side since it was not his house and it seemed as though you knew nothing of the invite.”

_The fuck was Nat trying to do? But at least this explains why he kept asking about Edd as soon as he came over._

“You know, Edd, if you wanted to come over, that would have been fine.”

Edd didn’t reply but seemed overly focused on cleaning Kevin’s already cleaned hand. After a few more swipes along Kevin’s pinky with another alcohol pad, Edd grabs a roll of gauze. He wraps up Kevin’s hand carefully, only stopping once to tuck a fallen lock of hair back into the side of his hat.

This caught Kevin’s eye, and he continued to stare at Edd’s face and the bit of hair he could see peeking out from the hat, as Edd continued to mend Kevin. He didn’t realize he was staring until Edd suddenly stood up to dispose of all the used alcohol pads and a scrap of gauze.

As he sat back down, Kevin flicked Edd’s name tag. “You always gotta wear this and that jacket or whatever?”

“You mean the lab coat?” Kevin nodded. Edd started to open the bandage canister. “Yes. It’s part of the job… I know I look a bit silly in it, but-”

“Nah, you actually look real cool. It’s good on ya.”

Edd fumbled the canister, dropping a few band-aids. Kevin chuckled as he watched Edd bend over and frantically pick up the fallen band-aids. When he sat back up and put the bandages on the metal table, Kevin couldn’t help but note the way Edd’s cheeks were now tinged pink, as Edd stuttered out a thanks.

Kevin grabs one of the band-aids that Edd put on the table and tries to open it, when Edd snatches it back. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to help?”

“We can’t use those! They were on the ground!”

“But they’re still in the wrapper, dude.”

“You can never be too careful,” Edd said, pulling out a few new band-aids from the canister.

“Whatever you say, Dr. Edd,” Kevin chuckled.

Edd blushed and put two band-aids on Kevin’s pinky. He continues to hold his hand as he looked up, saying, “All done!” Edd’s grin dropped as he visibly shook himself, his blush now spreading down his neck. He let go of Kevin’s hand and stood, putting up the first aid supplies.

“Will you be needing a note for class?”

“Nah, I’ve hardly been gone long enough for that,” Kevin replied, slowly getting up.

“Well, I suggest you hurry along still, just in case.”

Kevin wanted to keep talking, to see why Edd was blushing so much, but Edd seemed pretty engrossed in straightening out the nurse’s office suddenly. So, he just clapped a hand on Edd’s shoulder, startling him, and said, “Thanks for the help. Hope to see you around.”

Edd was absolutely scarlet as he replied “Likewise,” and Kevin struggled more with leaving the nurse’s office.

When Kevin returned to the gym, Nat spotted him from the other side and shouted, “HIT OR MISS?”

Kevin only gave him a thumbs up, trying to suppress his grin.

Nat immediately ran up to him and started to inspect Kevin’s hand.

“What are you doing?” Kevin asked, snatching his hand back.

“I was seeing if he wrote his number down or something.”

“Buzz off. He just did his job. That’s all.”

“That’s a shame… so what now?”

“What do you mean what now?”

“You did all this work to figure out when he’s nurse’s aide. Now you know! So, what’s the next step.”

Kevin froze. He didn’t think that far ahead. _How the hell was I supposed to get from knowing his schedule to getting to know him and maybe, if I’m lucky, making out… shit… I really do have a crush…_ “Dude. I have no idea.”

Nat frowned at him. “Welp. Guess you’re going back to the nurse same time tomorrow until you figure it out.”

“I guess so!” Kevin grinned.


	5. Thursday

**Thursday, Fourth Period**

“So, you gonna go see Double Delightful today?”

“Yeah, if I can figure out how to get out of here… Do you think he’ll let me go if I say this is hurting?” Kevin raised his left hand. There’s no gauze wrapped around it today, just a few bandages here and there, but you could still see a lot of the scrape.

“Nah, not good enough. You know coach will tell you to just suck it up.”

Kevin looked dejected.

After a few minutes of playing basketball, Nat ran up to him. “I got a solution that might work!”

“You’re not gonna tackle me again, are you?” Kevin said, taking a few steps back.

Nat shook his head. “Nah. The other way around this time.”

Kevin was about to ask him what he meant when Nat rushed towards him, gently clipped his shoulder, and dramatically fell to the ground and rolled. Kevin just stared at him wide-eyed and tried not to laugh. Nat struggled to stand and ended up on his hands and knees. “Kevin you think you could help me up,” he said, peering up at him with a mischievous grin. Kevin hoisted him up and threw an arm around his middle. He helped Nat hobble over towards the coach.

“Coach. You mind if Kevin helps me to the nurse’s office?”

“Yup. I do mind. You can just sit here and rest it off while Kevin goes back in the game.”

Kevin helped Nat to the bench and went back to playing basketball. He was wondering why Nat was watching him with a worried expression when one of his team mates asked if he was feeling okay. Kevin went to reply and felt the muscles in the face relax. _Had I been scowling the whole time? Am I really that upset over not seeing that dork for two whole minutes?_

**Thursday, Football Practice**

It was especially hot today, so the coach had them take a few extra water breaks. While Kevin was grabbing a water bottle during one of the extra breaks, Nat tugged on Kevin’s shirt and whispered, “Check your 3 o’clock.”

Kevin looked to his right out the corner of his eye, and immediately shoved his water bottle at Nat. Nat fumbled to take it as Kevin sprinted off towards the fence.

“Hey, Edd!”

Edd stopped walking and turned towards the source of the sound. His expression softened as he saw Kevin running towards him. “Hello, Kevin!”

Kevin slowed to a jog as he reached the fence. “Um, hey, Edd…” Kevin panted. Edd just giggled in response. _You idiot, you already said that._

“Did you need something?”

“Uh… nah… I just… I just wanted to say hello… talk to you… whatever…”

Edd covered his mouth with his hand as he giggled. “That sounds nice, but shouldn’t you be at practice?”

As if right on cue, the coach yelled out, “BARR! GET BACK OVER HERE BEFORE I MAKE YOU RUN LAPS FROM NOW UNTIL SUNDOWN!”

Before Kevin could get another word out, Edd said, “See you later. Stay safe,” and hurried off down the sidewalk.

Kevin hurried back to the field and took a knee beside Nat as coach explained the first drill.

“So… how was it?” Nat whispered.

“Great. I said ‘hello’ way too many times, like a fool, then got yelled at in front of him.”

“Ah. The stuff of true romance!”

They both got snapped at for snickering.

**Thursday, Evening**

Kevin went downstairs to play video games. As he was setting up, he glanced outside, and had to do a double take when he realized that Edd’s bedroom curtains were pulled back and he could see Edd working at his desk. Kevin watched him for a moment before deciding that he’s going to go talk to him. He ran and put on a shirt and a pair of shoes before heading out his door. As soon as he stepped foot past the threshold, he looked up and saw Ed literally dragging Edd from his front door, barely giving him time to lock up. Ed was yelling something about alien symbiotes and pyrokinetic powers. _He probably got ahold of some other dumb C-rate monster movie. Do I still go over there? It’s just the two of them._

Kevin hesitantly took a few more steps when he heard Eddy shouting from next door. “Did you get sockhead?”

“I got him, Eddy!”

“Fine. Let’s get this over with,” Eddy said, dragging his feet towards Ed’s house.

And with that, Kevin went back inside and played video games for the rest of the night, while occasionally looking out the window to see if a certain person was finally going home. Either Kevin missed Edd’s return or he still hadn’t come home by the time Kevin had to get ready for bed. _It had better be the first reason. Fucking Skipper doesn’t need to be hogging all his time like this._

The last thought Kevin had before going to bed was _Fourth period. I see him tomorrow during fourth period, for sure._ He fell asleep smiling softly.


	6. Friday

**Friday, Fourth Period**

Kevin had a stomach ache. A terrible, awful stomach ache that cannot permit him to sit through class. And he needed to go to the nurse’s office. Now. However, the coach didn’t feel the same way. “I’ve seen you in pain on the field, boy, so I can tell when it’s real and when you’re faking it…”

“But I really do-”

“And I saw Nat trying to coach you on how to fake being sick just before you came up to me…”

Kevin just groaned and shuffled away back towards his desk, Nat watching him sympathetically. Kevin spent the rest of health class sulking.

It was Friday. In theory he could try to catch a moment of Edd’s time sans the other dorks at some point during the weekend, but that would be highly unlikely to happen. Plus, there was an away game on Saturday and Kevin’s visiting his grandma on Sunday. He’s going to have to wait until Monday before he can try to see Nurse’s Assistant Edd again, _and maybe make him blush some more_.

**Friday, Football Practice**

In a middle of a play, Kevin goes from the ready position to moving to stumbling because of a charley horse in his right leg after his sudden movement. Before he can compose himself, he’s wiped out. Kevin groans and looks up to see which asshat did this to him. _Nat. Of fucking course._ Kevin begins to pick himself up, prepared to chew Nat out for dicking around too much, when Nat falls to his knees besides Kevin, holding him in place.

“Oh, my goodness, Kevin! Are you okay!? Do you need help walking to the _nurse’s office_?” Nat asked, louder than his usual tone.

“It’s after school, you idiot!” Kevin hissed.

Nat leaned in and whispered. “Yeah, but I heard nurse’s aides sometimes do work after hours.”

Kevin freezes for a few seconds before doing another terrible dramatic fake injury thing. Except it wasn’t fake. His leg was really cramping. He could have totally stretched it out and walked on it within a few minutes. But as far as coach needed to know, it was bad and needed to be seen right away. Preferably by the nurse’s aide. Kevin grabbed his leg and plopped over on his side, groaning. He slightly rocked back and forth, but that only turned his groans into hisses as the rocking motion aggravated the cramp.

Kevin strained his head back to look at the coach, so he can ask if he can go to the nurse, hoping it wouldn’t be like the time Nat fell in gym class yesterday, which only merited time on the bench rather than medical help. Kevin froze as he saw the coach stare at him unamused. He then scowled and closed his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Barr! Goldberg! Get off my field!”

Nat immediately helped Kevin up, saying, “Can I take him to-”

“Just go! I’m tired of looking at you both!”

Nat and Kevin hurriedly took off their helmets and left them on the bench. As they were leaving the field, the coach called back to them. “Goldberg. You’re just helping him. So, I expect you back in five minutes or I’m making you run laps for every second you’re late.” Both boys looked back and saw the coach waving his stop watch. He was serious about the “every second” part.

Nat helps Kevin limp the rest of the way off the field. Before they reach the school building, Nat says, “You’re getting better with the acting, dude.”

“Not really acting.”

“Charley horse again?”

“Yup. This is getting ridiculous.”

“Maybe you should have you sweetheart, Nurse Edd, look at it for you.”

Kevin tried to glare at him, but it was hard to do when he was also suppressing a grin.

Kevin was able to walk normally on his leg by the time they made it halfway through the school, but the calf muscle still felt a little tight and ached a little with each step. Just outside the nurse’s door, Nat stopped them. “You should get into character.”

“Huh?”

Nat gently kicked the back of Kevin’s leg, causing him to stumble a little. Kevin was about to complain about Nat purposely inflicting sharp pain, but he suddenly caught on. He limped the rest of the way to the door and knocked. There was no response. Nat tried knocking for him this time, and even tried to grab the door handle, but the office was clearly locked up for the day.

Kevin groaned and slumped against the door when he heard a voice. “Did you need to see the nurse?” Kevin looked up and beamed. Edd was lightly jogging towards them.

Nat made a scene of helping Kevin up off the door as Edd retrieved his keys to unlock it.

As Nat sat Kevin down on one of the medical cots, Nat explained the situation, “Kevy here got hurt at practice. Gonna need a lot of TLC. All that you can give. I’m counted on you, Double Delightful!” And with that, he sprinted out of the room, back towards the practice field.

Kevin stared after him in horror as Edd looked at the now empty doorway in shock.

“Sorry to make you work past hours, D. What are you doing here so late anyways?”

Edd blushed. “I was halfway home when I realized I forgot my lunchbox. Guess that was lucky for you since the nurse had to leave early today… oh! Speaking of which!” Edd turned around and opened one of the cabinets on the far side of the room. From there he retrieved a lunch box and placed it next to his bookbag.

Edd began putting on his lab coat and looking for the box of latex gloves when Kevin suddenly realized the significance of Edd’s previous action.

“Edd. Do you eat lunch in here?”

Edd froze for a moment. “I do…”

“Do lumpy and the other dork come here to?”

“No. They have first lunch this semester. And even if they shared the same lunch period as me, I still wouldn’t permit them in here.” Edd shuddered at the thought. He then found the box of gloves in another cabinet with an “Ah-ha!”

While Edd was mumbling something to himself about other people being incapable of reading labels Kevin asked, “So are you by yourself during lunch?”

Edd snapped his head towards Kevin. “Well, yes, but it’s perfectly fine. I get a lot of work done. And it’s only for one semester,” he shrugged.

“Dude. If you will ‘permit’ me to, I’ll come here and have lunch with you starting on Monday.”

“I do appreciate the offer, but that’s not necessary, Kevin,”

 _Judging by the way you looked away and started blushing, it’s hella necessary._ Kevin stands up from the cot and walks over to Edd, placing a hand on his shoulder. “C’mon now. It’s fine. I _want_ to. Let me have lunch with you?”

Edd only smiles at Kevin.

“ _Please_?”

Edd breathed out a slight laugh before he looks down with a frown. “Kevin. You seem to be walking normally right now… care to explain?” Edd quickly put the box of gloves into the appropriately labeled cabinet and turned to face Kevin, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Okay… just hear me out…”

Edd nods.

“I was hurt, but no so much anymore, but I thought it would still be good to go see the nurse.”

“Just in case it was something serious?” Edd’s scowl softened into a slightly concerned expression.

“No… More like just in case you were still here.” Kevin began to panic internally as he watched Edd’s expression go blank and his arms drop limply to his side. “So yeah… I got a slight cramp but decided to use it as an excuse to maybe talk to you for real this time since every other time I got yelled at by some teacher or coach.”

Edd giggled.

“I know it was a dumb stunt to pull, but that should be proof enough.”

“Proof enough for what?”

“That I really want to come here for lunch on Monday. If I’m willing to go this far just to say more than ‘hello,’ what makes you think I won’t jump at the opportunity to have lunch with ya?”

Edd stares at him for a moment before blushing. He nods and says, “I look forward to it!”

Kevin grins widely, causing Edd to do the same. Kevin melted a little inside at the sight. _Man, I want to kiss that gap-tooth smile so much… Fuck, I really am crushing on him… How the hell did Nat spot this before me?_

Kevin shifts his weight and his right leg buckles a little, still recovering from the cramp. Kevin winces slightly and Edd’s grin fades into a concerned frown once again. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. It was just a charley horse. No big deal. I usually just walk it off.”

“You _usually_ just walk it off? Wait. Kevin. How often has this been happening?”

“Eh, just once in a while. Been more frequent recently, but it’s no big deal, like I said.”

Edd closed the gap between them and looked up at him sternly. “Does this happen on days when you have intense football practice or other athletic events?”

“Eh. I guess so. I know it’s been happening more since we started to do more drills.”

“What about other times? Do you ever wake up with a leg cramp?”

“Yeah! Those are the worst ones! But, how’d you know?”

Edd sighs and grabs Kevin by the arm, steering him back to the cot. “Lay down on your stomach please.” Kevin tries to comply, but his shoulder pads weren’t permitting it. He takes off his jersey and shoulder pads, setting them on the ground by the medical cot. When he lays down, he looks over his shoulder and watches Edd remove his lab coat, hanging it back up on the wall. “I think you’re dehydrated and have a potassium deficiency.”

“That sounds… kinda serious… I mean, a deficiency-”

“No, no, not like that,” Edd says, walking back to the cot, and kneeling on the ground next to Kevin’s leg. “It’s this leg correct?”

“Yeah,” Kevin says nodding.

Edd suddenly starts massaging Kevin calf and continues his explanation. “It just means you’re not consuming as much potassium as you should for the amount you work out. It’s especially bad if you don’t hydrate correctly. It’s been peculiarly hot recently so that doesn’t help matters. You’ve probably been losing more electrolytes than you take in.”

Kevin looked away, hoping his blush was not noticeable, and asked, “So I just gotta hydrate more?”

“That’s part of it,” Edd said, still continuing to massage Kevin’s leg. “But don’t forget about the electrolytes. You need potassium, sir. And maybe some calcium.” Edd picks up Kevin’s leg gently and starts to slowly move his foot back and forth. “Proper stretching is also good at preventing it. But if it still happens, just massage it like I’m doing now and get yourself some water and some potassium.” Edd then slowly moves Kevin’s foot all the way forward. “How does it feel now?”

“Actually, a lot better. Thanks, man!”

“Well then, be careful on the way back to practice. I have to lock up now.”

Kevin looks back and see’s Edd putting his lunchbox into his backpack. He watches him check all the cabinets for a moment before getting up off the cot. “See ya.”

“Farewell, Kevin.”

Kevin gathered his football gear and left the nurse’s office. After taking a few steps down the hall, he froze. _Man. This is ridiculous. I’m making like zero progress._ He quickly turns back around and stands outside the nurse’s door. Edd comes out shortly and closes the door.

“Edd, why d-” Edd yelps in surprise and drops his keys. He quickly snatches them back up and locks the door before turning towards Kevin, looking completely embarrassed. Kevin decided to pretend like it didn’t happen. “Why don’t we hang out more?”

“I… I-I, um… Well…” Edd fumbled while blushing.

Kevin grinned. “We totally should. Hey! Could I get your number? I’m kinda busy this weekend, but we should hang out at some point after that!”

Edd looks at him skeptically. “Are you doing this because of Nathan?”

“No! What do you mean?”

“He kept bothering me for my number the one time we hung out. I wouldn’t mind having another person to text, but he kept using those uncomfortable nicknames.”

 _Ah he must mean all that “Double Delightful” and “Double Cutie” and shit… wait a minute…_ “So, is that why you call him by his full name? He hates that!”

Edd smirks, “Perhaps.”

Kevin laughs loudly. “That’s frigging fantastic! But seriously, this is strictly between you and me… no ‘Nathan’ will be involved if I can help it.”

“And you promise you won’t give him my number?”

“I swear, Edd.” Kevin starts patting his pockets for his phone, attempting to juggle his shoulder pads and jersey in the process, but then looks back up in horror at Edd. “I just realized my phone in the locker room.”

Edd reaches back to the side pocket of his bookbag. He unlocks his phone and hands it to Kevin. “Just give me your number and I’ll send you a text.”

“Choice!” Kevin inputs the number and hands it back to Edd. “I gotta get back to practice. See ya around, dork!”

“Stay safe, Kevin!”

Kevin lightly jogs a few steps down the hall before turning back around to face Edd, but still walking backwards. “Don’t forget! Monday! Lunch!” Kevin yells out.

Edd looks over his shoulder and beamed. “Will do!” he yelled back, waving.

**Friday night**

Practice was exceptionally grueling today. Kevin had come home, showered, and dragged himself to the dinner table. Even lifting the fork to his mouth was more movement than he wanted to do. After dinner, he just laid in his bed and watched a movie on his laptop, wondering why coach thought it would be a good idea to go this hard the night before a game.

A few hours later Kevin heard his phone go off and groaned. He checked the phone and decided to let it go to voice mail. It was just Nat. After it was done ringing, his phone went back to the lock screen, but it was flooded with notifications.

Kevin skimmed them all. There were a few from his apps, and a lot of messages from Nat, namely about wanting to know what happened with Edd since they didn’t get a chance to talk about it at practice. Kevin noted the way Nat threatened to call in exactly an hour if he continued to ignore his text… and that text was sent an hour ago. _Damn fool has nothing better to do than schedule when to be annoying_.

Kevin scrolled all the way down and saw a text from an unknown number. The message read: Eddward Vincent.

Kevin bolted upright and immediately unlocked his phone. He quickly typed out a message before saving the number.

 _Kevin_ : Thanks again for helping me with my leg!

Kevin waited for quite a while before realizing that it was probably past Edd’s bedtime. He laid back down, but as soon as his head hit the pillow, his phone buzzed. He sat up impossibly fast and check his phone.

 _Nat_ : You’re currently sucking face. That’s the only excuse I’ll accept for your lack of response.

Kevin started to type a message telling him to fuck off, when a new message popped up at the top of the screen.

 _Edd:_ You’re welcome!

 _Kevin_ : You’re up late…

 _Edd_ : As are you. Hope I didn’t disturb you.

 _Kevin_ : Nah. Just thought you’d go to bed early.

 _Edd_ : Typically, but it’s Friday Movie Night at Ed’s. Won’t know what sleep is until it comes by force.

 _Kevin:_ Lol. You do this every Friday?

 _Edd:_ Every other. This much mind-numbing entertainment is already more than I want to handle.

_Every other Friday. He’s watching movies with the dorks right now. But next Friday, he should be free. Maybe I can ask if he wants to hang then. It’ll have to be after the game though… Would he-_

_Edd_ : Eddy seems displeased with my texting. G2G. Goodnight.

_Fuck that fucking no neck piece of… ugh… whatever… gotta do damage control with Nat anyways._

_Kevin:_ Not a problem. Night.

Kevin called Nat back, who picked up before the first ring was even finished.

“KevKevKevy! What happened?”

“He told me how to fix my leg cramp issue.”

“Was the solution his sweet, sweet love?”

“Close. Potassium.”

“Ah, the next best thing… What else?”

“That’s it.”

“Ah, nothing else?”

“Nope.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Nope. Just said my leg was cramping, he told me what to do, and sent me on my way.”

“Hmmm… I feel like you’re forgetting something… something very important… like him feeling up your leg for an extended period of time after your mini-strip tease…”

“THE FUCK, NAT!?”

“Why would you leave out the juiciest details, Kevin? I’m hurt!”

“WERE YOU SPYING ON ME!?”

“Uh, yeah!? Why else did you think I was doing laps for most of practice?”

“Probably ‘cause you just happen to exist in the coach’s presence. That’s enough to tick him off.”

“True. Very true. But this time he had reason!” Nat said a little too gleefully. “I was creeping on you from the window outside and took a little too long doing so.”

“Well, I’m glad you used the word ‘creeping.’ It’s like one step closer to you realizing you have a problem that needs to be fixed.”

“Once again, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m flawless.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “So why were you spying on me?”

“Cause I wanted to see how soon you’ll name your adopted babies after me.”

Kevin hung up the phone and laid down in bed, trying to go to sleep early. After a few moments his eyes flew open. _Did Nat see me give my number to Edd? Fuck fuck fuck. Wait. Wait, no… That was when we were outside the nurse’s office… the door was already locked, right? Shit. I hope he doesn’t find out. I don’t want Edd pissed at me from the get-go._


	7. Saturday

**Saturday Afternoon**

Kevin was on the bus on the way to the game and he wanted to text Edd, but Nat was sitting right beside him. Whenever Nat got distracted, Kevin tried to sneak a message to Edd. However, every time he unlocked his phone, he just stared at their previous message, not knowing how to start a conversation with him. _Good job Kevin. You developed a crush on the one person you don’t know how to talk to. Things are going to go_ so _well for you!_ Kevin rolled his eyes at himself.

After they arrived at the rival school, and got changed into their uniform, Kevin pulled out a sports drink from his bag. He took a sip before he realized a way to start a conversation with Edd, and slammed the drink down on the bench, and hurried to grab his phone.

 _Kevin:_ Brought Gatorade to the game. You think it’ll help with the leg cramps?

Kevin sent the text and sighed heavily before tossing it back into his bag. _Shit. This was my bright idea? Bringing up my leg cramps again? He’s going to think I only got his number for instant medical advice and-_ Kevin’s phone buzzed and he snatched it back up.

 _Edd_ : Smart move! It should most certainly help!

 _Kevin:_ Good. Thanks.

Kevin tossed his phone back into his bag as the coach told them to gather around for the pre-game pep talk.

**Saturday Night**

After the game, Kevin saw he had two messages from Edd on his phone, but he had to quickly hide the phone when Nat tried to peek over his shoulder. They got dressed and headed back to the bus. It was almost an hour and a half bus ride, so Kevin was hoping Nat would fall asleep at some point, but that didn’t happen until about an hour into the drive. As soon a Kevin could tell that Nat was sleep breathing, he took out his phone, dimmed the backlight, and opened the messages.

 _Edd_ : Let me know how it goes!

 _Edd:_ Good luck!

Kevin hesitated a moment, wondering if Edd was still awake. He decided to send a reply anyways, even though he figured that he wouldn’t hear from Edd until the morning.

 _Kevin:_ We lost. By three points.

Kevin locked his phone and placed it on his lap. He sighed to himself, trying to convince himself once again not to get his hopes up for a continued conversation. This proved unsuccessful within a few seconds when he felt his phone vibrate.

Kevin stared at the notification, grinning, before he realized that he should probably open the message and maybe reply back.

 _Edd:_ Sorry to hear that. It’s awfully late. How late was the game?

 _Kevin_ : It’s an hour and half away and we had double overtime. But it was still fun.

 _Edd_ : Glad you had fun.

 _Kevin:_ So, what have you been up to today?

The rest of the ride home, there was no reply. Even as Kevin was laying in bed that night, there was still no response. _I know he probably fell asleep, but it still kinda sucks._


	8. Sunday

**Sunday Morning**

Kevin decided to sleep in until his dad knocked on his door, yelling at him that they need to leave for his grandma’s house in half an hour, or else. Kevin groaned and rolled over in bed, swinging his arm towards the nightstand. He felt around for his phone, and once he found it, he pressed the home button to check the time. Kevin perked up when he noticed that he missed a few messages from Edd.

 _Edd:_ It seems that I had fallen asleep while texting last night. I do apologize for that.

 _Edd:_ As for what I’ve been up to yesterday, I hung out with Eddy until he got in trouble, and then I went home to clean and watch a documentary.

 _Edd:_ No leg cramps so far?

 _Kevin_ : That does sound like typical Eddy.

 _Kevin:_ Got a charley horse last night

 _Edd_ : Have you been hydrating, stretching, and replenishing the necessary nutrients?

Kevin looked over at his gym bag on the floor. He could see the sports drinks sticking out of the bag. One bottle still full.

 _Kevin:_ Honestly. No… I promise to work on that though!

As he was finished up that last message, Kevin’s father yelled at him again. “You better be out of bed!”

Kevin groaned and got up. He took a shower and decided against having a snack before their visit in favor of pigging out on home cooking. When Kevin’s father yelled that it was time to go, Kevin raced back upstairs to his room and grabbed his phone and ear buds and rushed for the car. As soon as he was buckled up in the back seat, he began to prep for the long drive. But before he could select which playlist to zone out to, he had a notification that needed his immediate attention.

 _Edd:_ I certainly hope so. I’d hate to see you injured again.

 _Kevin:_ Don’t worry. I will. Got any plans for the day?

 _Edd:_ Not particularly, no. Ed is babysitting Sarah and Eddy is grounded for the rest of the weekend.

 _Edd:_ Will just probably try to find something to do around the house.

 _Edd’s completely free, with no other dorks controlling his time, and I’m in the backseat of dad’s car unable to do anything about it. WHY IS THE UNIVERSE SO AGAINST ME FINDING MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES OF EDD’S TIME!?_ Kevin groaned loudly and slammed his head on the back of the seat. He looked up and met his father’s eyes in the rear-view mirror, his dad was obviously concerned about Kevin’s unusual behavior. Kevin just shrugged it off and went back to texting Edd.

 _Kevin:_ well hopefully you won’t be too bored today.

After a few minutes, Kevin realized that didn’t really say anything that would prompt Edd to respond. _Dumbass. Gotta keep the conversation going_. Kevin thought for a minute and gave up, deciding to just state the obvious.

 _Kevin:_ I’m going to visit my grandma today. She lives just outside of Lemon Brook, on the far side.

**Sunday Evening**

Kevin made it through lunch, the obligatory conversation about how he’s doing in school, a board game, and a trip into town without getting a reply. Just before dinner, he checks his phone again.

“Did you get a girlfriend or something?”

Kevin snaps his head up towards his father.

“uh… no?”

“A boyfriend then?”

Kevin blushes. “No, dad.”

“With the way you’ve been with the phone all day, you could have fooled me.”

Kevin just rolled his eyes and tried his damnedest not to check his phone again.

“As long as you don’t date Nat, I don’t care. I can’t stand that boy.”

Kevin chuckled. “That will never happen, even if you paid me.”

**Sunday Night**

Kevin still hadn’t gotten a reply during the return home, but as they pulled into the cul-de-sac, they drove right past Edd who was walking home. He looked up and waved at Kevin in the car but continued towards his house. Kevin wanted to run over and say hello, but by the time he got out of the car, Edd was already inside. _Perhaps I shouldn’t bug him. He’s already in his home and it’s late. Fuck. Why is it so hard to meet up with him? At least there’s lunch tomorrow…_

Kevin goes up to his room and his phone buzzes in his hoodie pocket. He fumbles for it, dropping it in the process, and quickly snatches it back up to see if it from the person he’s been waiting on all day.

 _Edd:_ That sounds like fun, though a bit far.

 _Edd:_ Sorry for the late response. Ed got out of his babysitting job and suddenly dragged me away from home. I left my phone. I do apologize.

 _Kevin:_ Don’t sweat it. It happens.

 _Whereas I’m over here totally sweating it and been stressing all day over it like the damn fool that I am. But it looks like I wouldn’t have found time with Edd even if I did stay home today…_ Kevin flops down on his bed and started to ask what kind of trouble he got into today, when Edd replied first.

 _Edd:_ I’m getting tired. Good night.

 _Kevin:_ Night.

Kevin waited a moment, biting his nails, debating on sending another message. He went for it.

 _Kevin:_ See you at lunch tomorrow!

_Fuck. Why am I messaging him so much!? I’m like trying to force conversation here. But tomorrow. Tomorrow, I’ll have a full lunch period with him. Maybe I can stop being so fucking weird and have an actual conversation._

Kevin groaned and got up off his bed. He quickly finished his homework and got ready for bed. As he was laying down in bed, he checked to see if the alarm was set on his phone. That’s when he noticed that Edd had replied.

 _Edd:_ Looking forward to it :)

Kevin grinned to himself. _This damn kid has me all sorts of weird just from four words and an emoticon. Just how screwed am I?_


	9. Monday

**Monday, Lunch**

“Yo, Edd! Wait up!” Kevin rushed towards the front of the room where Edd was, a little disappointed since it seemed like Edd wasn’t really trying to wait. He followed him out into the hall. “Where ya going, Edd?”

At the sound of his name, Edd startled and looked behind him. He smiled but continued walking as he addressed Kevin, “I’m just going to go grab my lunch and head to the nurse’s office. I have to be quick so that she can leave for her own lunch break without there being too long of a gap of the nurse’s office being closed.”

 _Is that why you really eat alone in there? Or was that just an added benefit the nurse found. Either way, glad he wasn’t trying to ditch me_.

“Cool, I’ll just meet you there,” Kevin said as he stopped following Edd, turning around to go to his own locker.

When Kevin walked into the nurse’s office with his lunch tray, he had a hall monitor following him.

“Edd, tell this buffoon that I’m allowed to be in here with my food.”

Edd looked past Kevin, at the obviously disgruntled hall monitor, and said, “I’m sorry. I probably should have told you. He’s also allowed to come here with his lunch.”

Kevin sat down next to Edd on the medical cot and glared at the hall monitor. “And it’s probably going to be a regular thing, so get used to seeing me crossing the hall with this,” he said, lifting the lunch tray up slightly.

The hall monitor huffed and said, “FINE!” before stomping out the room.

“Thanks for saving my skin there, Edd, but are you sure I’m really allowed to be here?”

“Yes! The nurse said I was allowed to have a friend to join me for lunch if I so desired. But you can double check with her later if you’d like.”

“No need. I believe you. I just didn’t want to deal with that twerp every time. I mean, I like you and all, but I don’t want to get a detention just cause I wanted to spend time with you.” Kevin started blushing when he realized that the following awkward silence was due to his words, so like the fool that he was, he continued talking. “Nat does that to me enough as is. The getting me into detention part.” Kevin was about to keep rambling when he heard Edd giggle. He looked over and Edd smiled at him warmly.

“I’m certain you won’t get detention.” Edd then looked down at Kevin’s tray and frowned. “I need to go fix something really quick. Wait here.”

Kevin just sat there dumbfounded as Edd suddenly left the room. _Ugh. What dumb shit did I say this time?_ He waited not-so-patiently for Edd to return and was confused to see him enter the room with his own lunch tray. Edd pulled a rolling metal side table up to Kevin and put his lunch tray on it. Kevin’s confusion only increased when he noticed that Edd only got a banana and milk carton, which he removed from the tray immediately. “You can put your tray on top.”

Kevin did so and gave him a perplexed look. Then Edd handed him the banana and milk carton. “Your leg cramps will not get better unless you follow instructions. Potassium and calcium.”

Kevin hesitantly took the items from Edd and looked at his own tray. He’d just gotten a burger, fries, a small paper tray of grapes, and apple juice. _So, did Edd just look at my food and automatically know what nutrients I’m missing and how to fix it? Wait, did he just buy a lunch, so I can have more potassium? That’s really sweet of him, but it’s not right._

Kevin leaned over in his seat to grab his wallet from his back pocket. He pulled out a couple of bills and handed them to Edd.

“What’s this for?” Edd said, staring at the bills, but not taking them.

“You had to buy a lunch to get me this stuff.”

Edd waved him off. “No, no, no. It was free.”

“Free? How?”

“I just told them there was a sick individual in the nurse’s office who couldn’t follow proper dietary instructions, and then let me take those two items.”

Kevin smiled at him for a moment as he put the money back into his wallet. Then he frowned when the words finally hit him. “Did you… did you just indirectly sass me in order to get me milk and a banana?”

Edd panicked, “I didn’t mean-”

Kevin laughed loudly and clapped Edd on the back. “Dude! That’s hilarious! I don’t think anyone’s ever talked smack while trying to help my physical health.”

Edd relaxed and chuckled along with Kevin. Kevin then placed the juice and tray of grapes toward the side of the metal table in front of Edd. “Here, I got my potassium and calcium, and now you have extra of… whatever the hell is in grapes… is there’s anything in it?”

“Oh lot’s, like…” Edd continued rambling about the nutrients in grapes and all the health benefits as Kevin munched on his fries. Edd suddenly trailed off before saying, “I’m sorry. I got carried away just now.”

“Dude. No worries. It was actually really interesting. I knew you were good in science, but I didn’t know you were like… that good…”

Edd nodded as he swallowed his bite of his sandwich. “Yes. I just really enjoy biochemistry and learning about the human body.”

“Is that why you’re in the chemistry club?”

“Yes. And the biology club. Wait… how did you know that?”

Kevin nudged his hat a few times and he scratched the back of his neck. “Well… I had to get extra credit last year, and one of the options was attending the science fair…”

“Oh, that’s right! I do remember you stopping by my booth.”

“I even stayed for your demonstration on… it was something to do with titrations and… I don’t know the right terms, sorry. But it was pretty cool how you could accurately make that whole color scale like that.”

Edd blushed. “You remembered that!?”

“Oh yeah! It was pretty dope. Kinda made me not dislike science so much.” Kevin said, shoving his burger in his mouth in the hopes that it would be effective against him saying more stuff he didn’t want to admit. _Of course, I remembered that. That’s when I first started to find you… interesting… or whatever… Not to mention there was no room at the demonstration, so I had to stand on the other side, where you were bending over the table for each titration… Ugh. I can never tell Nat that. TAKE. THIS. TO. MY. GRAVE._

“So… you said you were in the chemistry and the biology club. Anything else?”

“National Honor Society. Going to try for the swim team this year.”

“No kidding! Huh… well, for the stuff that you’re in right now… if you get done around the same time as my practice, would you wanna walk home together?”

Edd froze, slice of carrot halfway to his mouth. “With you and Nathan?”

“No. _Nathan_ won’t be there.”

Edd nodded. “Ah. I just though… since he has a car… and he sometimes takes you home…”

“Nah, man. He can go home on his own. I only get a ride from him when I’m feeling lazy.”

“Oh. In that case, sure!” Edd beamed.

“Sweet, so when are all your science clubs and stuff?”

Edd pulled out his agenda in order to answer Kevin, but Kevin just takes the agenda himself and flips through it. _Of course, the nerd will have all of it filled out like this._ Kevin flipped to the month overview pages, took out his cell phone, and took a picture of Edd’s schedule for the next two months. He ignored Nat’s text asking him if he’s skipping lunch. Then he hands the agenda back to Edd, while pointing at a particular date. “Looks like we’re walking home together tomorrow, dork.”

Edd scribbles something down just below “Chemistry Club” on that date, and then puts his agenda away. “Tomorrow, then!”

“Choice! Now tell me what you usually do in Chemistry Club, cause all I know is the two things from the science fair last year.”

Edd talked about their last project and the big semester project from the spring, and it honestly made Kevin a little jealous that his science classes never had anything cool like that.

After about a five-minute lunch period, the end of the lunch bell rang. Or at least it only felt like it’s been five minutes, to Kevin. They packed up their stuff and agreed to have lunch together tomorrow as well.

**Monday, Sixth Period**

There was an exam in class today, and Kevin was proud of himself for being confident in so many of the answers and for finishing it early. _And I didn’t get distracted by thoughts of Edd, like last week… wait… but I did think about not thinking about Edd, so isn’t that just like thinking about him but indirectly… ugh… this doesn’t make sense._

Kevin sighed out and propped his head up on his hand, prepared to zone out for the rest of the class period.

_So, lunch went pretty well, considering how stupid I’ve been this past week. He seemed really happy… dude that smile… it’s adorable… aDORKable… heh. Lame… He didn’t blush as much today, but I’m pretty sure I made up for it, admitting to watching his demonstration last year and everything… Ugh, that was embarrassing, but it made him really happy for some reason…_

Kevin continued to think about their recent interaction until the teacher told them to pass their exams to the front. As she gave the end of class announcements, Nat leaned over and whispered, “Dude, were you thinking about Double Delightful?”

“The hell!?”

“You were zoned out but smiling creepily the whole time. Either you’re suddenly really into cinderblock walls or you just happened to be staring at one while thinking of Double Cutie.”

Kevin just shrugged as he gathered his stuff to leave.

“I’m going to guess it’s him since these cinderblocks are such a drab color. Doubt you’d be into them.”

Kevin watched the clock. _Half a minute now._

“Did something happen? You GOTTA tell me, man! Don’t be such a cocktease!”

Kevin didn’t answer but just stared at the clock and Nat continued to whisper his demands to know what happened. Right as the bell rang, Kevin stood up and grinned wickedly at Nat. “Perhaps, _Nathan,_ perhaps.” He then raced out the door to his next class as Nat just stared after him, flabbergasted.

_He’s totally going to annoy the shit out of me at practice, but it’s worth it._

**Monday, After School**

Kevin walked out of school and around the building to make it to the locker room, instead of his usual route going through the school building. He took his time at the front of the school, slowly making his way by the football field. He kept looking behind him until he found what he was looking for.

“See ya tomorrow, Double D!” Kevin called out, waving.

Edd stopped and waved back with both hands. “Tomorrow!”

Kevin grinned at the way Edd practically skipped as he resumed his walk home.

Nat did try to annoy the shit out of him at practice, but Kevin didn’t let it get to him. He was too happy to let some teal-haired jerk get under his skin. After a week of failed attempts of figuring out Edd’s schedule and getting to know him, he felt that he was making substantial progress. He was looking forward to more lunches together, walking home together, and hopefully hanging out together at some point, now that he had the nurse’s aide’s schedule.

The End.


End file.
